These are my first material studies. My goal was to find artists pipelines and to understand their thinking process, that's why I didn't spend much time on polishing. The lava cube is the only one exception. It wasn't easy and I enjoyed magic power, flowing through it. 

It's such a warm feeling to look back and see how much my vision of what is good has improved since several years of learning basics. I believe that done is better than perfect so it's important to draw conclusions and move on without remaking old works several times. 

Things I want to remember before finishing my material

• adding contrast makes image more interesting
• more lava glow effects for mystery feeling
• color and tone vibrations on stone for picturesqueness
• little cracks and chips add interest

Polishing lava material cube

One of the first exercises for Skillsup students is painting material cubes. I still enjoy it even after fiishing the course. There is a great temptation to skip right to props creation or at least to complicated materials but I remind myself that I've been studying for 11 years before going to university. I enjoy the concepting part of the work. Even though I abandon several ideas it's fun to do. The main difficulty for me is working with chiaroscuro. It stresses the need for learning construction drawing. My favouite part is polishing and adding glow. It's like meditation. Now I'm working on the lava cube, it's the best for feeling flow!

I know something about creative search... :)